Harriete

Harriete is a 32-year-old woman from Gatsibo District, in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. She is seeking a loan of RWF 60,000 to purchase 20 rechargeable LED lights, which she will resell to people in her village who are without electricity. Every week or so, these customers will return to her, to have their lights recharged for just RWF 100. She is also a farmer and will reinvest the money she makes into expanding her other business, to earn more money for herself and her husband .

Additional Information

About Nuru Energy

Nuru Energy is a for-profit corporation that encourages and provides renewable sources of energy in East Africa and India. The company’s POWERCycle generator supplies easy-to-use, off-grid re-charging for mobile phones and Nuru Energy’s portable modular LED lights, which can provide up to 10 days of light to rural households. Nuru distributes its lights through a network of village level entrepreneurs called VLEs. Each VLE sells lights to end consumers and can make additional income by offering recharging services with the Nuru POWERcycle.

Kiva lenders’ funds will be used to supply VLEs with lamps to sell in their communities. This Kiva loan will thus be used to provide borrowers with needed goods or services, as opposed to cash or financial credit. Kiva loans will be provided to Nuru VLEs at 0% interest, and each VLE will also be equipped with a POWERCycle to recharge lamps for customers on a regular basis.